Further, surrealist Salvador Dalí would force himself to stay half-awake during his slumber by holding a key over a metal plate. If he dozed off, the key would fall off his hand and clang onto the plate, jolting him to wake up immediately.

It’s not to say that you should consider picking up these habits, but if you have an oddly specific technique that you swear by to eliminate mental blocks, you definitely aren’t the only one. View the visual below.